Holborn, Japanese Restaurant Guide

Back in the day (in 2004), Arjun Waney & Rainer Becker’s successful Japanese fusion-favourite on Charlotte Street helped forge new expectations for fashionable dining out – with its slick combination of sushi, sashimi and robata-grilled items – and “it’s still a winner, even if we have now seen it all before”. Over the years four London siblings have been added, alongside another nine in the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf. A particular hit with business diners, some reporters visit several times a year, and say “it’s always an enjoyable experience, with delicious options like the black cod, crab gyoza and fillet beef”.

“A reliable option for Japanese food on a budget” – this chain’s “functional decor” “looks and feels authentic”, while the “great, light tempura is always a good indicator of quality” and the sushi and sashimi tend to be “so much better than average”. Service can be “swift”, even “rushed”, and the venues “noisy” and “crowded because of the exceptional value” – but they’re “deservedly popular to eat in or take away”. Top Menu Tip – they sometimes have sea urchin, a real delicacy.

“Sometimes it just has to be ramen”, and this group from Japan Centre owner Tak Tokumine provides noodles and broth that are “consistent, quick”, “high-quality and very reasonably priced” – “service isn’t amazing but the food makes up for it”. The 12-hour tonkotsu pork broth is a speciality of Hakata, Tak’s home district of Fukuoka city on the island of Kyushu.

“A reliable option for Japanese food on a budget” – this chain’s “functional decor” “looks and feels authentic”, while the “great, light tempura is always a good indicator of quality” and the sushi and sashimi tend to be “so much better than average”. Service can be “swift”, even “rushed”, and the venues “noisy” and “crowded because of the exceptional value” – but they’re “deservedly popular to eat in or take away”. Top Menu Tip – they sometimes have sea urchin, a real delicacy.

At the top of New Fetter Lane in Holborn, this specialist in Japanese yakitori – serving different cuts of chicken grilled on skewers – opened in autumn 2024. Billing itself ‘beak-to-tail’ dining, its offering incorporates a full blow-out of 17 cuts, which requires 48 hours’ notice. In his May 2025 review, the FT’s Jay Rayner declared it “as if each skewer is the very best part of the Sunday roast that you were holding out for” – and the equal of its type to any he had tried when visiting Tokyo.

Spanning the eighth and ninth floors of what was once the Daily Telegraph’s (and more recently Goldman Sachs’s) Fleet Street HQ, this ritzy new pan-Asian fusion rooftop is set to open in late 2025. It’s one of three planned for Regis’s new mixed-use development of the site, with restos from brothers Arian and Alberto Zandi (owners of Emerald Hospitality, who run Como Garden, Zuaya, etc). This one will major in Japanese cuisine – with a dedicated sushi counter and open robata grill – but also with Thai and Chinese dishes. The ninth-floor rooftop terrace will adjoin a bar overlooking the nearby cityscape.

This Muswell Hill two-year-old serves an “impressive variety of delicious Japanese dishes”, covering most of the bases: “sushi, wagyu and more”, all “so fresh and tasty”. The “very pleasant decor” is modern and restrained. A second branch opened in Covent Garden in late 2024 (no reports as yet). Top Menu Tip – they even serve a ‘Muswell Hill Roll’ with crab stick, avocado and salmon.